During the lifetime of a patient, it may be necessary to perform a joint replacement procedure on the patient as a result of, for example, disease or trauma. One such type of joint replacement procedure is a total knee replacement procedure in which a diseased and/or damaged knee joint is replaced with a prosthetic knee joint. A typical total knee replacement procedure utilizes a prosthesis that generally includes a femoral component, a tibial tray, and a tibial bearing insert. The femoral component generally includes a pair of laterally spaced apart condylar portions, the distal surfaces of which bear against a complementary pair of surfaces defined in the tibial bearing insert. The tibial tray typically includes a plate having a stem extending distally therefrom. The stem is implanted in a prepared medullary canal of the patient's tibia. Once implanted in such a manner, the tibial tray provides a surface on the proximal end of the tibia to which the tibial bearing insert may be affixed.
During performance of such a knee replacement procedure, the surgeon must evaluate the size and condition of the patient's bones (e.g. the patient's tibia) in order to determine the proper type and configuration of each of the various types of prosthetic components that are to be implanted. This procedure is known as trialing.
Surgeons prefer to check the stability and kinematic behavior of the implant prior to the final preparation of the tibia bone for the final implant. However, current trialing systems require the surgeon to prepare the bone for the final implant prior to checking the stability and behavior of the implant. In particular, current trialing systems require the proximal tibia to be broached, reamed, punched, or otherwise prepared in order to place an evaluation trial in place. This requires the surgeon to commit to the use of a mobile bearing tibial implant prior to being able to finish their evaluation of stability and kinematic behavior.
What is needed therefore is an apparatus and method for trialing a tibia implant.
What is further needed therefore is an apparatus and method for evaluating the stability and kinematic behavior of a mobile bearing knee implant during a total knee arthroplasty.